Whits move up to No. 3 in poll

Men’s College basketball: Whitworth’s season-opening game with the Tommies of the University of St. Thomas looms larger and larger in the rear-view mirror.

Back in November, it was a matchup between the No. 11-ranked Tommies, the 2011 Division III national champions, and the 15th-ranked Pirates. St. Thomas won 70-65, holding off a late rally in the Whits’ Fieldhouse.

Eighteen games later, it was a battle between No. 2 and No. 3 in the D3hoops.com poll after Whitworth moved up one spot to third from last week’s No. 4, and St. Thomas dropped one to No. 2 after its first loss, to league rival Concordia-Moorhead.

Rochester, one of two undefeated teams left in the Top 20 poll, moved up to No. 1 with a 19-0 record.

Whitworth hosts back-to-back home games Friday and Saturday when Lewis & Clark and Pacific visit.

Steve Christilaw

Rypien’s agent dies of cancer

Football: Missoula real estate agent and NFL agent Ken Staninger, who played on the first two Spokane Community College teams, died of pancreatic cancer at 63.

Staninger’s wife, Mary, said her husband died Saturday evening.

She said he was diagnosed in August, but they kept it quiet so his players could finish the season before telling them.

Staninger was a starting defensive back on SCC’s first team in 1967 and quarterbacked the Spartans to an undefeated 1968 season.

The Missoulian reports many of his NFL clients, including Super Bowl XXVI MVP Mark Rypien, visited Missoula to say their goodbyes.

Staninger is survived by his wife and three sons.

WAC honors UI’s Charlston

Women’s College basketball: Idaho center Alyssa Charlston is the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week following two big outings last week.

The 6-foot-2 junior had her seventh double-double of the season with 14 point and 17 rebounds in Idaho’s 72-60 win against Texas State. She followed with 11 points, six rebounds and a career-high-tying five blocked shots in a win at UTSA.